


Beautiful You

by taizi



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Human turtle (but not really), M/M, Woody is a good boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-22 02:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8269945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taizi/pseuds/taizi
Summary: “It’ll come in handy on dates, too,” Mike said, sounding equal parts eager and uncertain. “I mean, you’re probably pretty bummed that we can’t ever go out and do stuff together, right? We always gotta sneak around, ‘cause I’m not human. But with this gadget, I can be. For a little while at a time.”Woody blinked, taken by surprise. “Mike,” he said slowly, “what makes you think I want anything to change? Did Raph put you up to this?”





	

“Hey, welcome to Rupert’s,” Woody said mechanically when the bell above the door jingled and a new customer came inside. His phone had the larger part of his attention, and he scrolled surreptitiously through his texts behind the chest-high counter for the fifth time in as many minutes.  
  
He hadn’t heard from Mike at _all_ since earlier that morning, and anxiety was threading cool fingers through his ribcage. What if something happened? Mike’s line of work was as dangerous as they came. It wasn’t like him not to communicate unless something was _wrong._  
  
Light fingers tapping the counter drew his attention up to almond-shaped eyes, half-hidden under a messy, dark fringe. They were crinkled at the corners with the width of the stranger’s smile, and Woody stared at them for a few seconds too many. Then he blinked out of it and shook his head ruefully.  
  
“Sorry, sir,” he said, returning the smile with a lesser one of his own. Trying to put thoughts of his wayward ninja boyfriend away for the time being, and having limited success, he continued, “What can I get for you? Would you like to hear our specials?”  
  
“Absolutely,” the young man replied cheerfully, and Woody froze. And stared a little more. Because he would know that voice _anywhere._ He could pick it out of a crowded room like it was his _job._ And there was a short line forming, the late-late-night crowd stopping in for a slice, but Woody was fixated on the stranger’s face – his honey-gold eyes, the dusting of freckles across his nose, the shape of his smile –  
  
_“Mike?”_  
  
“Woah, you guessed it right away!” He leaned in, resting his elbows on the counter – so _familiar_ in his mannerisms, and so newly _human_ at the same time – and said coyly, “I’ll have a large pizza, with a side of you. How much’ll it be?”  
  
“I need someone at the counter,” Woody called over his shoulder, already struggling with the ties of his apron. He stumbled over an empty soda crate in an attempt to move backwards without moving his eyes, and only barely managed to catch himself on the prep table. “I’m, uh – I’m taking fifteen!”  
  
Mike’s kind laughter followed him while he ducked through the kitchen and slammed out the back door. It wasn’t snowing anymore, but there was a few thick inches that crunched underfoot as Woody stepped off the short stoop. He rubbed his arms, in such a rush he forgot to grab his jacket, and waited.  
  
He only had to wait a moment. “Your boss was givin’ me the fisheye when I took off, for holdin’ up the line for no reason,” Mike said cheerfully as he came around the corner, red-faced with cold and buried up to his ears in a thick, autumn-orange scarf Woody would bet his car Raph knitted especially for his baby brother. Mike’s grin softened into a smile, and he stopped an arms length away, spreading his hands like a magician showing his cards. “What do you think?”  
  
“I don’t know what to think, Mikester,” Woody said honestly, eyes roving over the unfamiliar human form. “Why do you look like that?”  
  
“Donnie,” Mike said, predictably. He held up a wrist and pushed back the sleeve of his coat. A watch sat there – or what might pass for a watch at first glance– heavy-duty and forest green, the small digital face running a constant stream of complicated-looking binary code. “It’s a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo, but basically, this little doodad is projecting a holographic version of me. I can’t get too close to computers or circuit breakers, and I am one hundred percent not allowed to get it wet, but – still! It’s pretty cool, right?”  
  
“Yeah, I guess so,” Woody replied, faintly impressed. He reached out to touch Mike’s pale face, and his fingers faltered a few inches away. He let his hand fall. “Don’s definitely a genius. This sort of thing will come in handy for you on sneaky ninja missions.”  
  
“It’ll come in handy on dates, too,” Mike said, sounding equal parts eager and uncertain. “I mean, you’re probably pretty bummed that we can’t ever go out and do stuff together, right? We always gotta sneak around, ‘cause I’m not human. But with this gadget, I _can_ be. For a little while at a time.”  
  
Woody blinked, taken by surprise. “Mike,” he said slowly, “what makes you think I want anything to change? Did Raph put you up to this?”  
  
For the first time, Mike’s human smile faded and he waffled visibly, glancing at his unfamiliar five-fingered hands. “He said you’d prob'ly be interested.” Woody inhaled deeply and reminded himself that picking a fight with a sai-weilding ninja built like a tank was not in his own physical best interest. Bribing Donnie to pick that fight, on the other hand…  
  
Well. First things first.  
  
“Take it off,” he said firmly, with a gesture at the device on Mike’s wrist. Mike hesitated, and Woody did his best to sound casual and matter-of-fact. “C'mon, amigo, my break’s half over already.”  
  
Mike unclasped it agreeably enough, eyeing Woody sidelong while he did. As the device came off, the hologram flickered and faded, and then Woody was looking down into unchanged amber eyes. The green and the shell and the tattered orange ninja mask were such a relief to see that Woody couldn’t help a soft breath of laughter.  
  
“ _There_ you are,” he said, bursting with affection, and tugged Mike closer by the loose end of his scarf. Woody smoothed the pad of his thumb over a constellation of freckles he knew by heart, and added, “The large pizza you ordered is going to have to wait till I see you later, but I can hook you up with that ‘side of me’ you ordered right now, if you’re interested.”  
  
“Dude,” Mike said, breathless and delighted, and beaming fit to burst, “I am _so_ interested.”  
  
The laughter that echoed through the dark alley after that carried for whole blocks on the winter wind. Mike squirmed helplessly while Woody set about kissing every square inch of his proper green face, their fingers tangled comfortably – and in the dark curtain of shadow under the fire escape, having lingered protectively to watch the scene play out, a certain genius gazed at the pair of them with unrivaled fondness; happy, for the first time in his life, to see one of his inventions fail.


End file.
